The US Justice Department is to conduct a vote on whether to take its Pre-Crime unit national. This unit, led by John Anderton (Tom Cruise), uses three psychics, the Pre-Cogs, to provide it with images of murders that will be committed and the names of the future victims and murderers. Investigators then use this information to piece together where the murder will take place and arrest people before they get a chance to commit the crime.

Anderton, driven by the loss of his son, believes the system is perfect. Along with Lamar Burgess (Max von Sydow), the father of the Pre-Crime unit, he has become one of its biggest campaigners.

However, as the latest murder vision arrives, Anderton sees that he will murder a stranger within the next 36 hours. He flees and must uncover the truth behind the question he has spent the last six years in eliminating: Is it possible for the Pre-Cogs to be wrong?

VITAL STATS Opens: 30 August Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Tom Cruise, Lois Smith, Samantha Morton, Peter Stormare, Max von Sydow Classification: 16V Running Time: 150 minutes Based on a Philip K. Dick short story, Minority Report is about a cop in the future working in a division of the police department that arrests killers before they commit the crimes courtesy of some future viewing technology. Cruise's character has the tables turned on him when he is accused of a future crime and must find out what brought it about and stop it before it can happen.

In keeping with the subject matter, Spielberg's Washington of the future is a place where privacy does not exist. Thanks to optical recognition, people are bombarded with personalised advertisements wherever they go. Even the Pre-Cogs' ability to see future crimes raises the question of how much government organisations know about the individual.

Like so many other science fiction movies, Spielberg could easily have fallen into the trap of focusing on the special effects and scenery to the detriment of the plot. Luckily, this is not the case. The effects are well done and the Washington of 2054 has been accurately created in the context of the movie. This succeeds in drawing the viewer into the movie. The story focuses on how technology influences society and not on overwhelming the audience with dazzling effects.

The father of the Pre-Crime unit, Lamar Burgess (Max von Sydow)

Cruise's recent movies (Vanilla Sky, Eyes Wide Shut) have shown that he wants to be known for his depth of acting and not just as a pretty face. In Minority Report he is successful. He gives a believable, although at times melodramatic, performance of a man who is caught up in a struggle that has become bigger than him.

Samantha Morton also does well in a difficult role as the enigmatic Pre-Cog Agatha.

Unfortunately, Spielberg's need to tie up loose ends overshadows the complex nature of the story. The question of whether a person can be arrested for a crime he/she has not even committed is never adequately answered. A dichotomy is created between predetermination and the right of choice early in the film, but is never explored to a satisfying conclusion.

Anderton (Cruise) goes for a ride in Minority Report

I cannot help but wonder what would have happened if an independent film studio had made this movie. Granted, the effects would probably not have been as good, but at least you would have a movie that succeeds in portraying the dark future of author Dick much in the same way as another Dick adaptation, Ridley Scott's Bladerunner.

Having said that, Minority Report is better than your run-of-the-mill Hollywood science fiction movie and is sure to rake in the money. The movie's slick delivery is its downfall though. It succeeds in raising important issues such as the nature of liberty and privacy, but then fails in its follow through.

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